Photo by Andrew Meares
By Situation Theatre 10/2/2016
Human rights abuser Philip Ruddock said he’s been “humbled” by the response to his appointment as Australia’s special envoy for human rights, with congratulatory phone calls from war criminals Henry Kissinger, Ratko Mladic and Joseph Kony.
Ruddock is something of an icon for these other human rights violators with an impressive list of rights violations.
Henry Kissinger, winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his excellent work in carpet bombing Vietnam and Cambodia, told the former immigration minister he was proud of his work in designing the Pacific Solution and lying to Australia over the children overboard affair.
Ratko Mladic, calling from The Hague where he is on trial for genocide and crimes against humanity in the Bosnian War of 1992-1995, said he was impressed by Ruddock’s actions as Minister for Immigration. He was amazed they were so repugnant to Amnesty International that they asked for his badge back, so repellent to his daughter that she left the country to do aid work, and so vile to many Australians that he was, unusually for a minister at the time, assigned a personal security detail.
Joseph Kony, indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity as leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, praised Ruddock for his treatment of David Hicks, Cornelia Rau and Vivian Solon, Dr Mohamed Haneef and Mamdouh Habib.
All wished the human rights violator well and commended his appointment as the perfect emblem for Australia’s tough stand on human rights.